Neutral-colored logo and 80 “greats” for UAAP Season 80

It has been more than a hundred days (exactly 117 days as of writing) since the DLSU Lady Spikers captured back-to-back UAAP women’s volleyball crowns and for some, if not most of us, the opening on September 9, 2017 couldn’t come soon enough. The eight-member league finally raises the curtains of Season 80 with host school FEU choosing the theme of “Go for Great” for this year.

Unveiled during the media briefing held at the FEU Institute of Technology yesterday was the season’s school color-neutral logo and the announcement of Atty. Rene “Rebo” Saguisag Jr., the commissioner for the past two men’s, women’s, and juniors basketball tournaments, holding the newly-created position of executive director.

Putting aside FEU’s colors of green and gold in favor of teal, the host school wanted to convey a message of unity, of being “ready to take a new age”, and serving as a primer to a brand new kind of greatness. The spark at the top of the logo “connotes inspiration, dynamism, and energy”; representing the driving force within (all of) us to become legendary.

Dr. Rowena Reyes, Marketing and Communications Manager of FEU shared that all UAAP presidents gave their nod on the logo because “it’s a logo that’s not so FEU and it wants to unify the entirety.”

Another feature this coming season are several “Wall of Greats”, located not only at the Coral entrance of the Mall of Asia Arena on opening weekend, but also at the campus of all member-schools throughout the season. 10 of each school’s greatest athletes, not necessarily exclusive to men’s basketball and chosen by their own universities, will be featured in the “Wall of Greats” as well as presented during the opening ceremonies on September 9.

Reyes added: “We have invited 10 greats from (each) of the universities. The choice came from the schools themselves. We just wanted to give recognition to the greats.”

Personally, choosing 10 of the greatest Green Archers might not really pose as a challenge but choosing the greatest Lasallian athletes in all sports will be no mere fete. Basketball legends like Kurt Bachmann, Lim Eng Beng, and Renren Ritualo and former volleyball player Manilla Santos might be shoe-ins considering their jerseys are now in the rafters of the DLSU’s Sports Complex, but who else should be included in the magic 10?